ABSTRACT

This work provides an exceptional case study, shedding light onto the functioning of an actual corporate board of directors. It presents analysis of a series of corporate management meetings shown in the 1974 documentary film, Corporation: After Mr. Sam. The film chronicles the discussion and communication processes as a company considers how to replace its president, and it serves as a unique opportunity for analysis of real-world organizational discourse.
 
With an impressive list of prominent contributors, Interacting and Organizing: Analyses of a Management Meeting employs the dual perspectives of organizational communication and language and social interaction (LSI) to examine the film. It is arranged around specific topics, analyzed separately by organizational communication and LSI scholars. Editor François Cooren provides an introduction for each topic, and a comparison and synthesis conclude each part. Readers will appreciate the information presented, as it is an arena typically off-limits to outside eyes. The transcript of the film is included as an appendix to the volume.
 
This volume is appropriate for use in advanced courses and seminars in organizational communication, LSI, management, and organizational behavior. With its distinctive approach to studying the film's content, it will be invaluable to scholars, researchers, and graduate students in organizational communication, LSI, and management.

part I|71 pages

Leadership and Speakership

chapter 1|26 pages

Management as Metaconversation

The Search for Closure

chapter 2|21 pages

Enacting the Institutional Role of Chairperson in Upper Management Meetings

The Interactional Realization of Provisional Authority

part II|54 pages

Organizing and Emotional Display

chapter 4|18 pages

Feeling-Limned Talk

Conduct Ideals in the Steinberg Succession Meeting

part III|6 pages

Strategies of Decision Making

chapter 7|29 pages

“We Ought to Have … Gumption …”:

A CRA Analysis of an Excerpt From the Videotape Corporation: After Mr. Sam

chapter 9|14 pages

Bringing the Outside in

A Contextual Analysis

part IV|98 pages

Can We Study Interactions in Documentaries? Ways of Talking, Closure, and Data

chapter 11|20 pages

On Talking to Not Make Decisions

A Critical Analysis of Organizational Talk

chapter 13|8 pages

Closing Words (and Opening Discussions?):

An Afterword on Corporation: After Mr. Sam